Do You Know Lupus Can Overlap With Rheumatoid Arthritis

RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system attacks itself. The pattern of joints affected is usually symmetrical, involves the hands and other joints and is worse in the morning.

Rheumatoid arthritis is also a systemic disease, involving other body organs, whereas osteoarthritis are limited to the joints. Over time, both forms of arthritis can be crippling. Systemic Lupus Erythematosus SLE and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).The etiology of cardiovascular disease likely involved an interaction between traditional risk factors, inflammation-induced and immune-mediated vascular injury, and hormonal and treatment-related factors.

The autoimmune and chronic inflammatory nature of both SLE and RA may contribute to atherogenesis. However, there are sufficient differences in the pathogenesis, organ involvement, and treatment modalities of SLE and RA to suggest that differences may exist in the development of atherosclerosis in each of these diseases

The onsets of the disease is usually gradual, with fatigue, morning stiffness (lasting more than one hour), diffuse muscle aches, loss of appetite, and weakness. Eventually, joint pain appears, with warmth, swelling, tenderness, and stiffness of the joint after inactivity.

The cause of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is unknown. However, RA involves an attack on the body by its own immune cells (auto-immune disease). Different cases may have different causes. Infectious, genetic, and hormonal factors may play a role.RA usually affects joints on both sides of the body equally -- wrists, fingers, knees, feet, and ankles are the most commonly affected.

Deformities result from cartilage destruction, bone erosions, and tendon inflammation and rupture. A life-threatening joint complication can occur when the cervical spine becomes unstable as a result of RA.Rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic autoimmune disease which initially attacks the synovium, a connective tissue membrane that lines the cavity between joints and secretes a lubricating fluid.

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Tina Magtalas is the author of this article and been battling the disease for over 16 years. For more information visit our website: www.lupus411.com

The Complexity of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus is a life-threatening chronic autoimmune disease. Although the mortality rate of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus has reduced in the last decades, the disease continues to raise serious problems to the affected persons. Research results reveal that around 2 million people in the United States suffer from systemic lupus erythematosus and almost 90 percent of patients are females. The disease has the highest incidence in young women with ages between 18 and 30 years old. Asian, Hispanic and African American women are more exposed to developing systemic lupus erythematosus than white women. In Asian and African countries, the incidence of the disease in women is known to be a lot higher than in the United States. Furthermore, Asian and African American women seem to develop more serious forms of the disease. Systemic lupus erythematosus is also common in infants, very young children and elderly people.

Modern medicine is unable to establish the actual causes of systemic lupus erythematosus. It is believed that there are multiple inter-related factors that determine the occurrence of the disease: genetic anomalies, environmental factors (prolonged medical treatments with strong antibiotics) and hormonal factors (since the disease is predominant in women, estrogen seems to be involved in the occurrence of the disease).

Systemic lupus erythematosus can affect different parts of the body, sometimes even causing permanent damage. Lupus involves dysfunctions or hyperactivity of the immune system, which begins to attack healthy blood cells and genetic material. Instead of protecting the body from infectious agents and malign organisms, the immune system produces antinuclear antibodies that attack the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). Systemic lupus erythematosus can affect the cardiovascular system, the lungs, the gastrointestinal tract, the kidneys, the nervous system and brain, the musculoskeletal system or skin. People with systemic lupus erythematosus commonly suffer from affections of the joints, heart disease, pulmonary disease or skin diseases. Considering the multitude of generated symptoms, people with systemic lupus erythematosus require various medical treatments for each particular disorder.

The treatment for systemic lupus erythematosus is mainly targeted at reducing the damage caused by the dysfunctional immune system to the body. Immunosuppressive medications are very common in the treatment for lupus. Although they can generate pronounced side-effect, corticosteroids are often used in the treatment of systemic lupus erythemaosus. However, doctors are trying to minimize the use of harmful drugs such as azathioprine (Imuran) and cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan).

The chronic character of systemic lupus erythematosus determines the recurrence of its symptoms. The disease has an unpredictable evolution pattern, alternating between periods of remission and periods of aggravation. Even if systemic lupus erythematosus is inactive, the patients still require permanent monitoring and frequent physical examination. Also, due to prolonged treatments with immunosuppressive medications, patients with systemic lupus erythematosus are very susceptible to infections. People with systemic lupus erythematosus need to take steps in preventing the occurrence of infectious diseases, as on the background of a compromised immune system, even a common flu can generate exacerbated symptoms.

So if you want to find more about Lupus or more details about systemic lupus please follow this link http://www.lupus-guide.com